Glacier
by Yatzstar
Summary: An alternate scene from Star Trek: Into Darkness. Please note that I am new to the Star Trek fandom, and currently know next to nothing about it, so bear with me if I get something wrong.


**A/N: So this is just a little thing I thought up. Dear Lord, Khan is hard to write for. Curse him and all of his mysterious superhuman awesomeness. (Lol not really, Khan is epic)**

**Anyway, I ship Khan with every female he meets. I'm sorry, I just do. Enjoy!**

_"__You should have let me sleep!"_

Carol Marcus stared in horror at the gory remains of her father, as the madman better known as Khan sent a transmission to the _Enterprise. _Kirk found his arm wrenched painfully high up his back, and shoved forwards into the view of the transmitter screen. Carol didn't listen to the conversation—her mind was numb. Her broken leg—also smashed by the Augment—was sending streaks of pain through her body like fire.

The only things Carol could think about were all the times she had upset her father—particularly when she had slapped him earlier that very day. At the time, he had deserved it, but now all Carol could feel was crushing guilt.

"Oh, you are smart, aren't you, Mister Spock?" Khan said, a sneer twisting his features.

"Spock, don't—" Began Kirk, but was silenced when the Augment slammed the butt of the blaster into the back of his neck, and the human crumpled. Carol winced inwardly as he hit the floor heavily. Khan and the Vulcan continued their debate, but Carol's mind was too much in shock to pay much attention. She tore her gaze from her father, the sight becoming too much to bear, and instead focused on Jim. He groaned quietly and touched the back of his head, wincing before managing to plant his hands firmly on the black floor.

"…and after every one of your crew has suffocated, I will walk over your cold corpses to recover my people." Khan hissed, his crystal eyes like flint. "Now…shall we begin?"

Spock met the Augment's gaze unflinchingly, dark eyes calculating the odds. Finally, he spoke.

"Lower shields."

"A wise choice, Mister Spock." Khan said. His black boot connected with Kirk's stomach, knocking Jim onto his side and sending him into a fit of coughing. Carol inhaled sharply. There was simply no end to the cruelty of this man. No, _man _was too civilized. _Animal _better described him.

Khan began entering the coordinates, his nimble fingers flying over the control panel.

"I see your seventy-two torpedoes are still in their tubes." Said the Augment, pulling up a diagram of the _Enterprise _interior. "If they're not mine, Commander, I will know it."

"Vulcans do not lie." Spock stated simply. "The torpedoes are yours."

Khan hastily entered the coordinates, watching with just a hint of anxiousness as the torpedoes vanished from the hanger in a swirl of light.

"Thank you, Mister Spock." He breathed, almost with gratitude.

"I have fulfilled your terms," Spock said, as Khan sat down in the captain's chair. "Now fulfill mine."

The Augment placed his fingertips together, propping a boot on his knee. He tilted his head, gazing at Kirk and Scotty. Kirk was barely recovering from the kick he had received. Khan's hawk-like eyes swept past the two men disinterestedly, before resting on Carol.

"It seems apt to return you to your crew." He said, not taking his eyes from the woman. Carol gave an inward sigh of relief. She would get out of this nightmare at last.

Khan tapped in coordinates on the arm of the chair, closing the transmission, and yellow bands of light began swirling around Kirk and Scotty. Carol looked down, and realized with a surge of horror and confusion that those same lights were failing to appear around her. Kirk and Scotty—her only protection aboard this ship—vanished in a flash, leaving her alone with the Augment.

Carol stared at the floor, her heart rate soaring as panic clouded her thoughts. Was Khan going to make an example of her as well? For simply being her father's daughter, would she end up lying dead on the floor, her skull caved in?

She heard the chair squeak slightly as Khan got to his feet. She didn't dare look at him. Out of sight out of mind. That saying had worked for her as a child.

Suddenly, Carol felt a warm palm on the small of her back, eliciting a gasp of fear. Her spine, however, remained intact, but the hand snaked around her stomach, hauling her to her feet. Pure adrenaline was keeping the majority of the pain from her leg at bay as Khan situated her on the edge of the control panel. He came around to face her, crystalline eyes narrowing as he studied her.

Carol could barely meet his gaze, so great was the fear coursing through her veins. She focused instead on the collar of his dark shirt. The Augment tilted his head, turning to look at the remains of Admiral Marcus, then back to Carol.

"Carol Marcus," He drawled. "My, you _have _been unlucky today, haven't you?"

Carol had never wanted anything more than to send a fist straight into his marble-like features. Her brain had barely finished sending the command to her arm when Khan seized her wrist, the tiniest flicker of amusement showing in his cold eyes.

"I wouldn't do that, Carol."

"Why haven't you sent me back?" Carol meant to sound annoyed, but it came out as more of a squeak. Khan regarded her, making her want to fidget under his hawk-like gaze.

"Oh, I will send you back, Carol Marcus. Just not yet."

Carol sat very still, trying to keep her face emotionless as she planned her next course of action.

"I simply want to apologize." Khan went on. Carol stared at him, wondering if she had heard him right. Khan, the man who opened fire on innocent Starfleet officers and killed her father, was offering an _apology? _

"I didn't think you were capable of such." Growled Marcus. Khan blinked slowly.

"It is true I do not often regret my actions," Said the Augment, "And I do not regret the killing of your father. However, I realize that you are entitled to some sort of compensation."

"I'll tell you what compensation I want!" Carol burst out. "You can bring my father back, then go back to Kronos and spend the rest of your life with those Klingons! That's the only apology I will accept, and since you can't or won't do either of those things, I will thank you to beam me back to the _Enterprise _and get out of my life."

Khan studied her with something like pity in his crystalline eyes. Carol acted then. She slammed her good knee into his groin—not easy to do when sitting down—and slid off the control panel. Khan doubled over, hissing in pain, and Carol resisted the urge to do likewise as her broken leg was jarred repeatedly. She managed to hop awkwardly towards the stairs. Unfortunately, this included going right past the remains of her father, and in doing so, Carol's foot skidded in the pool of blood that had been slowly spreading across the floor, and the human tumbled down the small flight of stairs with a screech of pain.

Carol tried to heave herself upright, but cried out as the pain from her leg reached a new level of awful. Khan straightened, his face tight with pain, and Carol cringed at the storm brewing in his blue eyes.

Carol closed her eyes against the pain of her leg, and listened to the dull noise of Khan's boots on the floor, slowly getting nearer.

"Unwise, Carol." He stated, stooping next to her. The human didn't respond, only flinching when he scooped her up, ignoring her various bruises and the state of her leg.

Carol was wondering what he was on about as the Augment placed her down again, allowing her to lean against the wall.

"You know, you would have gotten back to your friends a lot sooner had you allowed me to do this." Khan said in a low voice. Carol was bracing for the worst, but he simply eliminated the space between their bodies, and wrapped his arms around her. Carol had a split second to think _what on earth has gotten into this man? _

Marcus tried to push away, but Khan's grip only tightened around her.

"What are you—" Carol began, but Khan's voice halted her.

"Shhh," He breathed into her hair. "Relax. This is me, apologizing to you."

Carol's mind refused to relax, but her body had other ideas. Her tensed muscles loosened slightly shaking with the effort of her resistance, then entirely.

"Better." Khan murmured, smiling slightly against the side of her head.

"Why are you doing this?" Carol managed, her cheek pressed against the smooth black fabric of the Augment's shirt.

"Did I not just tell you?" Khan rumbled. "I am apologizing to the best of my ability. I cannot bring your father back, and I will not return to Kronos, and so that leaves me with this. Is not this what you humans do to make each other feel better?"

Carol wanted to push away—she wanted to slap him, or better yet, grab one of the discarded blasters still lying on the floor and remove his evilness from the universe. But Khan had eliminated any option of protest simply by the strength of his two arms.

After what seemed like an eon, though it had only been mere seconds, Khan pulled away. Carol was too confused to notice him heading back to the control panel. Her bad leg buckled, forcing her to lean against the wall for support. Khan's nimble fingers flew over the buttons, and Carol was vaguely aware of the white swirling around her. Through fuzzy vision, she registered soft lips pressing against her forehead briefly as she was beamed away in a flash.

Then she was back among friends, tumbling into Spock's arms and wondering what in blazes had just happened to her.


End file.
